Rated People website

Veny

Ottokar wrote: »

Dear Andy, I work for Rated People, so I am sorry to hear that you weren't quite happy with the service from us. Ratings are very important to us and we believe they are the best information to let you judge for yourself whether a tradesperson is right for the job. We don't let customers rate more than once and we don't let tradespeople respond more than once, in order to provide a fair reflection of a tradesperson's work. I understand that some jobs only show their true worth over time, as in your example. I will take this as feedback into our development process to understand what we can do about that, as we continue to work on imrpovements to the system.
Regards,
Ottokar

I have been with this company a short time and of the 9 or more leads I have paid for , some from my free £50.00 limit and about 4 that I have actually paid for , I have done just one job which I received an excellent rating for , quoted on one job that I did not win and the rest of the leads where either not answered , some said they would come back to me to make arrangements but failed to do so or I was told despite phoning as soon as the text came in that they all ready had someone . Basically false leads !!
On reporting four of these leads to rated people on their website they eventually came back to me regarding just one of the false leads refusing to refund it . Strangely when I rang to cancel my subscription within one minute of ending the call one of the other false leads was suddenly returned , but you guessed it , the cheapest one worth only £3.50 .
Wake up !! Why does rated people not take lead money from the first three tradesman and once the customer has made their choice return the money to the two who have not got the job . Why should anyone pay for something they have not received !
From my experience , experience of friends who have used them and the numerous complaints across the web it is obvious these people are out to make money, and I am sure an awful lot of money , with no genuine regard for any of those who use their site , tradesmen or customers . Money corrupts !!

dogtanion1

hi, I jst want to say to any tradesmen or homeowners thinking of using this site to think again as it is a total farce and a total scam. I am a tradesman who has used rated people and have had 9 jobs from them with a 5 star highest rating on every job ive had.
The scam tho comes from re posting jobs that already have had the maximum of 3 tradesmen to quote then re posting the job so that another 3 will buy the lead, this results in££££££££££ for rated people. they don't care about the tradesmen or about homeowners, all they care about is selling as many leads as possible and as many times as they can, im fuming about this as this is clearly not fair.
They call themselves "RATED PEOPLE" but the truth is there is no "rated" about it, yes people get rated on the job that they do but they will sell a lead to absolutely anybody at all, regardless if you are a tradesman, a con artist, or even a murderer!!! they don't care one iota who they send to your house as long as they get the lead money to the job, its beggars belief, im a TILER but I could call them up tmrw and say im a JOINER and they will happily sell me leads and let me carry out joinery work in your home!!! id laugh If I wasent so angry.
THE QUICKER THESE CON MEN "RATED PEOPLE" GET HOUNDED OUT THE BETTER. :mad:

garry_king

I have looked at views by tradesmen for rated people,I have just signed up to this site,to try it as I don't usually use the net. And so my phone hasn't stopped with texts from this site,with job leads that I'm supposed to buy,and to me it just seems that they are trying to make money out of tradesmen,and I wouldn't know if these jobs exist???so far I could have spent hundreds on buying leads to jobs,with no expectations of getting,also a quarterly bill.

So I think I'll leave this site,and try another.

artbizness

Hello garry

Let me know how you get on with leaving Rated People. I just joined it today, and having read this forum, I now want to run away screaming - but can't find any way of closing my account!

There doesn't seem to be any link to close the account!

sparkyjohn_2

These sites are a rip off. Customers end up paying more for works as we as tradesmen have to purchase these leads for between £7.20 and up to £60-£70. If you post a job on ratedpeople then up to 3 tradesmen can BUY your details and the smallest jobs are sold at £7.20 thats if you put your budget is under £100. So if 3 tradesmen buy your details Ratedpeople will take £21.60 off the 3 tradesmen just to let them contact you.

The worst thing about this is we pass this onto the customers. I advertise on google and my listing actually appears higher than rated peoples 50% of the time so if the customer clicks on my link they get a cheaper job than if they click on the middlemans link (ratepeople.com or any other quotes service) which is often only 1 above or 1 below mine. alot of people also just want ideas of what a job will cost so they will post a job with a budget of under £250 which then sells to 3 trades men for around £11 each + VAT so Rated people then make £33 + vat for a job the customer has no intention of having done. Again this is just driving up prices in the industry and all to pay for a middleman who promise rated people but actually they let me join without providing my Insurance details or any qualifications and as an electrician that's worrying as people will believe they are getting a trusted spark when all they are doing is paying for a "tradesman" who has let ratepeople take some money off him. The government should do something about these sites. If you want a competent electrician go and get one from the Electrical safety register as all these electricians have to prove competence and all have insurance and are vetted and checked every year by a personal visit from their respective government registered scheme supplier. Don't be a victim especially when it comes to electricity and gas check out the electrical and gas safety registers and you should get a professional tradesman everytime. :beer:

age_the_builder

sparky jon,
How much do you spend on the web with your own adds on google? im thinking of doing this to try and generate a little more work.
Dont get me wrong ive been with rated for a year now and generated around £20,000 of work through it,but! i get real fed up with there attitude,last week i spent £62 to look at a bathroom refurb however the woman had no intension of having it done,so i emaild rated and they said basically I was wasting there time!!

Ive had so many genuine customers ,but theres a minority that like to screw the tradesmen over,much like rated!!

And no im not a cowboy ! lol yeha

katejo

sparkyjohn wrote: »

These sites are a rip off. Customers end up paying more for works as we as tradesmen have to purchase these leads for between £7.20 and up to £60-£70. If you post a job on ratedpeople then up to 3 tradesmen can BUY your details and the smallest jobs are sold at £7.20 thats if you put your budget is under £100. So if 3 tradesmen buy your details Ratedpeople will take £21.60 off the 3 tradesmen just to let them contact you.

The worst thing about this is we pass this onto the customers. I advertise on google and my listing actually appears higher than rated peoples 50% of the time so if the customer clicks on my link they get a cheaper job than if they click on the middlemans link (ratepeople.com or any other quotes service) which is often only 1 above or 1 below mine. alot of people also just want ideas of what a job will cost so they will post a job with a budget of under £250 which then sells to 3 trades men for around £11 each + VAT so Rated people then make £33 + vat for a job the customer has no intention of having done. Again this is just driving up prices in the industry and all to pay for a middleman who promise rated people but actually they let me join without providing my Insurance details or any qualifications and as an electrician that's worrying as people will believe they are getting a trusted spark when all they are doing is paying for a "tradesman" who has let ratepeople take some money off him. The government should do something about these sites. If you want a competent electrician go and get one from the Electrical safety register as all these electricians have to prove competence and all have insurance and are vetted and checked every year by a personal visit from their respective government registered scheme supplier. Don't be a victim especially when it comes to electricity and gas check out the electrical and gas safety registers and you should get a professional tradesman everytime. :beer:

I tried to use Rated People several years ago. The problem was that my job concerned roof repair . Rated People wanted me to say exactly what needed doing and I have no expertise in the intricacies of lead flashings and solving leaks. i therefore gave up and had the work done by someone who was recommended to me.

Circitas

I have only skimmed this thread, but as a contractor I'd like to better understand just what drives people to find a tradesperson.

I am not a member of Ratedpeople (or any other of these pay per job lead type sites). I have read a lot of unpleasant stories re RatedPeople on this thread and on some other forums.

I have changed businesses and have not worked in this line for long, so I am trying to figure out if Ratepeople and others like it are worth the money as a contractor. - I'm beginning to think not.

So what do you use? - entirely work of mouth?

RyanS

I have been using Rated People for about 2 years now, everytime when im out of work. I`ve been in the trade for 9 years, I know what I`m doing, I want to do to a good job, and all of my ratings are 5 stars, yet I`m struggling to get new work now.

The problem with Rated People is not the website itself, altough they do have absolutely outrageous lead prices, and I want to terminate my membership with them asap just because of this. It`s the customers that are the biggest problem.

Frankly, 90% of them are cheapskates. They always go for the cheapest quote, and then complain that the job was done to a sub par standard. Of course it will. You get what you pay for.
I don`t even price my jobs, I work for a 200 quid day rate, and if the job takes half a day (4-5 hours), I`ll charge 100. That is very reasonable, considering that the ongoing rate for my trade is about 150 a day on self employed contract with any company. And you get that money everyday.

I literally don`t know what is wrong with people these days.

Actually went over to an old guy`s house to see what he needed doing, I explained everything to him, what needed to be done, why, how much will it cost, I spent about 30 minutes there just answering his questions, then he says allright, we`ll do it.
So I go on to a depot to get him one of the items he needed, found a few, and thought I`d call him to ask whats his budget on it to know how much to spend. I couldnt believe it when he told me not to buy it yet, because he had another person call him and he was just coming over to give him a quote.
I just hung up on him and never called him again.

On the plus side, I really like people that go by "first come first served", as long as your quote is decent and have good ratings. Unfortunately I only came across just a few of them, but I`m telling you, did them an absolute top job that will last them for decades to come.

Most people will just scavenge for the cheapest guy out there to do the work for them, and then think they`d been threated unfairly when everything goes bad. You just got what you paid for, buddy.

C_Mababejive

I would promote the discontinuance of the term "tradesman" since it has now become tainted with overtures and suggestions of bodging,ripoff and so forth by TV parasites such a dom Littlewood and all other producers of similar programmes.

Also such websites as checkatrade and rated people are simply parasites riding upon the working man and womans back.

Truth is ,you can have it cheap or you can have it right. Many members of the public see tut tradesmen as some kind of ignorant,cap doffing underling who is a bit sly,maybe a bit stupid but good with a hammer,and needs watching. Thats what they have been educated to believe by the media.

Until this country is prepared to pay for the training and employment of skilled people,it will never change.